Northumberland Holiday Guide 2009
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Starter: Northumbrian leek & asparagus soup served with traditional,
stone-ground wholemeal bread rolls
Wales and South Northumberland have two things in common: namely a proud history of mining and
a passion for leeks. The first recorded Northumberland leek show was held at Swarland in 1846 and
similar competitions soon became popular in pit villages all over the North East; by the 1930s Ashington
alone had 35 separate leek shows. The leek was the perfect plant for pitmen’s allotments and though the
county’s mines may have closed, lovingly grown (and jealously guarded) giant leeks are still displayed at
dozens of Northumberland village shows.
According to local legend asparagus was first grown by Lindisfarne monks as far back as the Dark Ages
and the vegetable plots of this beautiful island still produce a healthy asparagus crop for a few precious
weeks in early summer. For the perfect accompaniment to this quintessential Northumbrian starter, serve a
glass of mead from Lindisfarne’s winery.
It is unthinkable to serve soup without bread and this humble staple can be transformed into an epicurean
delight if baked with flour from the historic Heatherslaw Mill. There has been a water mill in this Border hamlet,
near the aptly named Cornhill-on-Tweed, for over 700 years and the restored Victorian waterwheel and
millstones still grind local wheat, rye and barley into superb traditional flours. Visitors are welcome, and you
can watch flour being ground, or the bakery & tearoom next door sell Heatherslaw’s packaged stone-ground
wholemeal flours, wheat germ, muesli, bran and barley flakes as well as home-baked cakes and biscuits.
Fish Course: Seafood platter of North sea crab, lobster, mussels and Lindisfarne oysters,
with line-caught, locally smoked, wild Northumberland salmon
The Northumberland coast stretches for nearly 100 miles from Tynemouth to Tweedmouth and is peppered
with working fishing villages such as Craster, Seahouses and Amble. Here you can buy fresh fish and
shellfish as it is unloaded onto the dock. Bamburgh Bay in particular provides a rich harvest of crustaceans
and shellfish such as pacific oysters farmed in the Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve and the only
mussels harvested between the Wash and Aberdeen.
Northumberland also boasts the finest salmon rivers in England including the Tweed (the south bank
is in Northumberland) and Coquet, with even the Tyne producing increasing numbers of fish. There are
also a number of smokehouses in the county such as Bywell Fish & Game, Swallows of Seahouses and
Robsons of Craster. Robson’s produce the world famous Craster Kipper which is an essential part of any
gourmet breakfast.
Game Course: Haunch of wild Roe venison with a blackberry and sloe gin glaze
Roe is the smallest of our native deer with a more subtle flavour than Scottish red deer venison.
Northumberland is one of the most wooded counties in England with both the huge Kielder pine
plantations and the broad leaf native woodland sheltering large numbers of roe. Roe bucks are in season
April to October and does from November to February. One of the best ways to flavour roe venison is with
wild autumn fruits and Northumberland’s hedgerows and woodlands are full of blackberries, bilberries and
rose hips until the first frost. Lorbottle Farm at Rothbury makes a fabulous sloe gin from fruit gathered in
the Coquet Valley.
Meat Course: Heather honey glazed roast rack of Northumberland lamb served with
heritage potatoes and seasonal vegetables
Sheep outnumber people in rural Northumberland and there are two hardy local breeds: Hexham
Blackface and Cheviot, which provide lamb with an exceptional favour. Lamb from lowland farms comes
to market in May with new season hill lamb appearing in late August. The hill lambs are slightly smaller
but their diet of sweet moorland grass and low fat content makes them the gourmet’s choice. For serious
epicures, a glaze of heather honey gathered from apiaries, such as Chain Bridge Honey Farm near
Berwick, creates a really royal rack of lamb. Only the best potatoes are fit to partner Northumberland lamb
and the very best are grown at Carroll’s Tiptoe Farm in the Till Valley. Carroll’s grow 17 heritage varieties
of sensational spuds, each one specially selected for different eating qualities. For the serious student of
‘spudology’, Carroll’s can supply a gift hamper from their on-line shop.
www.visitnorthumberland.com 9
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